Clarke joins elite roll of honour

Darren Clarke joined an elite roll of honour, including such illustrious names as Lee Trevino, Seve Ballesteros, Tom Weiskopf and Greg Norman, when capturing the top prize of £125,000 in the Benson and Hedges International in glorious sunshine here yesterday. And he did it by totally dominating an eagerly-anticipated duel with Colin Montgomerie.

From a three-way tie with the Scot and Italy's Massimo Florioli on 10-under-par overnight, Clarke swept clear of his rivals with a performance of stunning confidence and control. A final round of 67 for a 15-under aggregate of 273, left him three strokes clear of closest challenger, Santiago Luna.

"I'm extremely pleased to have won what I would consider to be one of our premier tournaments," said Clarke, who has moved up to sixth in the Order of Merit. "The key was the way I took my chances to establish a clear lead early on.

"The biggest improvement I've achieved in the past year has been in my attitude. My head tended to come off quickly but now I find I'm more in control of myself. But I still have a long way to go. I consider this to be no more than a stepping stone."

He added: "Monty and I are good friends and sometimes that can be difficult in the situation we had today, with both of us trying to win the tournament. But he was very generous to me as he always is, particularly in the way he complimented my good shots.

"And looking back on things, it was good to play with someone like Monty in the final round of a big tournament. It should certainly give a little bit of an edge to our next practice round together."

As a crucial milestone in his career, it was a victory reminiscent of events at Augusta National 21 years ago. That was when Tom Watson, on his way to victory in the US Masters, finally broke from the formidable shadow of Jack Nicklaus by accusing the great man of gamesmanship.

The competitive maturing of the 29-year-old Ulsterman, contained no such drama. Rather was it characterised by an awareness of his own, superb talent and the knowledge that he was destined to win tournaments of this stature.

Yet a measure of how critical he is about his undoubted skills, was a phone call he made on Saturday night. Tied for the lead after shooting a third round of 67, he still felt it necessary to telephone his coach, Peter Cowen, to try and improve his driving.

Apparently Cowen made a few suggestions about concentrating on his turning and keeping his levels correct throughout the swing. The fact is that up to yesterday, Clarke's perfectionism seemed likely to stifle the sort of progress his talent deserved.

Montgomerie holed a six-footer for a birdie on the last but he knew he would need to shoot considerably better than a closing 72 to have a chance of the title. "I just couldn't putt," he said. "In fact, it's the worst I've ever putted on a final round when I was in contention - and I've been in contention a lot over the last 10 years."

This was Clarke's third tournament triumph, following on a breakthrough win in the Belgian Open in 1993 and a victory in the German Masters in 1996. In terms of competitive progress, however, runner-up placings in last year's Volvo PGA Championship and British Open were considerably more important.

"Maybe this is a bit overdue," he conceded. "It has been a frustrating period for me and I was getting a little bit frustrated last year when I was getting into winning positions so many times and not finishing the job. But I kept telling myself that my turn would come if I knocked on the door often enough."

His wife Heather, who is expecting their first child in August, followed her husband for almost the entire round. And his moment of victory was particularly special for her. "This is the first time I've seen Darren win," she said.

Clarke, whose last win was 18 months ago, was aware that if he concentrated exclusively on his duel with Montgomerie, there was the danger that a player from lower down the order could sneak past him. As it happened, Luna came closest, though Thomas Bjorn was potentially dangerous.

"I should have shot 60 today," said the Dane. "It was the best golf I've ever played in my life and I would have won the tournament easily if I hadn't shot 40 on the back nine in the second round."

Luna had a refreshingly different attitude. "I hit some good shots and some bad shots," said the Spaniard. "I don't want to be good all the time. I don't want to be crazy."